We have chickens in our suburban backyard. We received our first chickens a little over a year ago and have had an interesting journey. We lost some to an illness and a dog attack and we've adopted others from multiple people. Our flock now contains 6 different girls of different breeds.

If we were farmers, we would likely raise a lot of chickens and perhaps never really take the time to get to know each different personality. But, as farmers in the burbs, we actually spend a fair amount of time with the girls.

Sadie is a Delaware. She is white with some black markings and has the loudest shreak for a squawk of any of our girls. She makes the most noise and sometimes picks on the others. I've threatened more than once to throw her in the soup pot. But, Sadie lays almost every day. I've been tracking eggs lately and she is the clear winner. So, throwing her in the soup pot means losing a lot of eggs. I guess she gets to stay.

On the other end of the spectrum, we have Dottie. She is a blue laced, red Wyandotte and is beautiful. Dottie was ill as a chick and walks more on her haunches than her feet. She sits most of the day in one location watching the others as the peck away looking for goodies. She has the sweetest personality and coos all day long. I love listening to her as I move around the yard. She is over one year old and has laid one egg in her whole life. Technically, she's not worth keeping if you look at egg laying, but with that sweet personality, she has a place in our hearts.

Josie is a white Silkie and we call her our funky chicken. When the books say Silkies are prone to being broody, they mean it. Broody is the state chickens get into when they are ready to sit on eggs. Josie seems to have a schedule... one month of being broody, a week of recover, 3-4 weeks of laying eggs and then broody again. When she is laying, she lays almost every day but boy those broody times. I do understand that mood of wanting to hole up and not talk to anyone and she is good at it. We've learned to just let her be and figure if we ever want some fertilized eggs hatched out, she's the lady for the job.

Rachel is what they all an Easter Egger. She is part Araucana and part something else. She is black, white and gray in a very beautiful pattern. Rachel is the only surviving girl from our original batch of chicks. She is an average egg layer, doesn't make a lot of noise except when she needs to lay an egg and seems quite content just being part of the flock. You know the sort.. just blends in and doesn't cause any trouble.

Lucille was our most recent adoption. She is a Buff Orpington and came from a farm where she got to roam in a field all day. She is a good layer with giant eggs in comparison to the others and she doesn't make a lot of noise. When it comes to chasing after treats, she is the queen. She'll jump into the air and grab something out of your hands, reach her head into a container and snag the slug from the bottom, or out chase any other chicken for that worm thrown into the yard.

Lizzie is the top chicken. She doesn't hesitate to chastise the others if they get out of line with a peck or two on the head. She's a Black Australorp, colored iridescent black with a greenish sheen. She is right under my feet when I go to give them treats, demanding attention. She reaches her head up very high trying to outreach the others. It's fun to watch her lead the girls inside in the evening or off to cause some kind of trouble if let loose in the yard.

It seems chickens are much like people. If we just look at the surface, we can see a person's looks or their obvious actions, but we don't see what's underneath. There's always more...